➢ Getting to Know You

➢ Manager’s Toolkit: You’ve Got to Have CHARM

➢ Management: A Sacred Trust - CARVE! THRIVE!

➢ Keys to Success: Training

➢ Keys to Success: Motivation, Feedback - SLAP!

➢ Awareness, Bias, Culture: You, Your Organization, The

World

➢ Bonus content!

AGENDA 01

#LavaCon #SaiffSolutions #techcomm

• Technical communications leader• 32 years of technical documentation

experience• Led writing teams at 6 US companies • Founded Saiff Solutions, Inc. in 2011• Provides content development to

Fortune 500 companies in Japan & US• Loves acronyms

About the Speaker: Barry Saiff 02

Let’s Get to Know Each Other

Please tell us your country, city, role, and why you are here?

03

#LavaCon #SaiffSolutions #techcomm

What are Your Interests/Experiences in Managing Technical Writers?

Have you experienced:• Managing a team of writers?

• Leading a team, without management authority?

• Managing outsourced or offshore writers?

• Hiring? Firing?

• Working for a good manager?

• Working for a not-so-good manager?

• What else?

04

When facing any difficult situation, start with

Curiosity and Humility, proceed with Awareness, Respect, and Mastery

Manager’s Toolkit: CHARM 05

• destroy careers

• destroy jobs

• destroy morale

• destroy the enterprise

Management is a sacred trust. As a manager, at any level, you have the power to: 06

• build careers

• achieve miracles

• treat people fairly

• develop lifelong relationships of trust

Management is a sacred trust. As a manager, at any level, you have the power to: 07

• turn lives around

• empower people to be more effective and productive

• enable people to learn things that make them more successful

• turn the enterprise around

Management is a sacred trust. As a manager, at any level, you have the power to: 08

The fundamental way of being of a manager is caring.•A manager cares about the results.

•A manager cares about the process.

•A manager cares about the people.

•A manager cares about the enterprise.

Caring 10

•A manager is trusted with power, and faces opportunities to abuse that power.

•A manager must, at times, be selfless, and act against their own (narrowly conceived) self-interest.

Caring: Responsibility 11

• A good manager is a creator of healthy administration, and an enemy of bureaucratic corruption and inertia.

• The mission, the customers, the enterprise, the people, and the results are more important than the rules.

• A good manager strives for continuous improvement, rational administration, fairness, and productivity gains.

Caring: Bureaucracy 12

Have you ever thought about management in terms of caring?

Yes? No?

Caring: A New Idea? 13

Your people need regular access to you, and you need access to your management.Have you ever had difficulties or stress at work because your manager had no time for you?

Yes? No?

Access 14

Don’t accuse. Remember CHARM.

Even if you don't think you are accusing or blaming, if the other person thinks you are, you are responsible for their perception.

This is particularly important in Asian cultures.

Being Respectful 15

A manager knows how to manage their emotions, without dumping them on people in the workplace.

Understand the difference between passion and emotion. Be responsible for the impact of your actions.

A manager does not react. A manager creates.

Being Respectful 16

Expand the realm of what you consider yourself responsible for.

Do not accept being treated with less than full respect.

Give yourself a break.

You will make mistakes, in fact, you must make some mistakes in order to learn how to improve.

BALANCE Infographics: 7 Elements of Respect

Being Respectful of yourself 17

Without vision, management is damaging. Be inspired, and you will inspire others.

Keep the mission, vision, and values of the organization alive, in everyone.

Make sure people understand how their work forwards the whole.

Are you clear about the mission OR the vision of your organization?

Yes?No?

Vision 18

Dr. Wayne Dyer was well known for the idea, based on extensive research, that we create what we expect.

Be aware of your expectations.

Choose them wisely.

Expect Excellence! 19

Caring – Trust = MicromanagementTrust is the currency of business success.

Without trust, nothing is possible.

You must calibrate trust for each person/situation.

What do you trust me for? Do you trust me to do my job well? Would you trust me to protect your daughter from harm? These are very different questions.

TRUST 20

Team (We are all on the same one.)Relationships based uponUnderstanding, Sensitivity, andTolerance

TRUST

Calibrate your level of trust in each person wisely. Believe in people.

21

Question for managers: Who am I being?

Get clear on who you are, as a manager and a leader. For example, here is my statement:

I am an authentic, caring, challenging, dedicated mentor.

What is yours? (Feel free to steal from mine.)

To get clear on your statement:• Notice, ask for feedback• Envision (Whom do you aspire to be like?)

Being 22

An inauthentic manager is an ineffective manager.

To increase authenticity, clarify your inauthenticities.

Everyone has inuathenticities.

Ask for help:

• What don’t you believe? How would you not trust me?

Ask yourself: What do I really care about? What don’t I?

Separate the facts from your story.

Get training: Never stop learning about yourself.

Highly recommended: http://www.landmarkworldwide.com

Being Authentic 23

● Examine: How might I be the source of the problem?● Learn from failures and successes.● Do not cut corners (deceive, break the law, share

information prematurely or inappropriately).● Work at least as hard, and smart, as your staff.● Hold yourself accountable for the results of your

team, and for your impact on their self-image & performance.

● Model behaviors and attitudes you want to develop.

THRIVE: INTEGRITY 25

Why are promises important?● Descriptive language vs Creative language● Flowers● Personal power: What is it? What is its source?● Beyond keeping promises - Honoring your word:

○ When you cannot, pro-actively take responsibility for mitigating the impacts on others.

○ Calibrate your promises: Not too much, not too little either – expect great things!

INTEGRITY: The Power of Your Word 26

What, in your experience, are the most difficult management issues? 27

THRIVE: Training TypesWhat types of training does your team need?

Consider:

● Technical communications methods

● Technical skills, aptitude, knowledge

● Writing skills: grammar, organization,

proofreading, editing, topic types, etc.

● Cultural skills: Organizational policies,

processes, methods, culture, working with

diverse others

28

● Work skills: time/work management, project management, leading meetings, leading teams, collaboration

● Transformational training - How to: ○ Be coachable○ Release/replace life-long habits○ Exceed your limits○ Increase awareness: How am I being? ○ Culture: strengths, weaknesses of?○ Increase empathy - for self and others

THRIVE: Training Types 29

Imagine: Your boss tells you (for the first time) that you are failing at x, y, and z, and you are being demoted, or fired.

Would you rather have had a chanceto improve first?

Would you rather have had someeffective training?

Enable Excellence: Training - Why? 30

Three Key Factors for Motivation:1. Autonomy2. Mastery3. Purpose

Great 11-minute video on motivation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuF

Two Orientations of Motivation:• Toward (things you want)

• Away from (things you don’t want)

Motivation: A, M, P, T, AF 32

Frequent! Accurate! Clear! Specific!Do not fail to tell someone that they made a mistake.

Do not fail to praise someone, often.

Do not fail to provide formal

performance reviews at least annually.

Remember CHARM!

Feedback 33

Three Key Success Factors:

1. Mix cultures and locations. Having a mix of cultures in one location makes a huge difference.

2. Ensure editing, quality control, and inclusion.Make all writers have the advantages they need to succeed.

A key success factor for Saiff Solutions: Our writers in the Philippines work with American, Canadian, Indian, and Filipino editors and managers (local and remote). Our editors each have at least 10 years of technical writing/editing experience.

Managing cross-cultural teams 34

3. Embrace differences by increasing your awareness!Understanding cultural differences – between countries, professions, departments, companies – is crucial to your success. Consider:

• How do these people learn best?• How do they typically handle conflict?• What does “Yes” mean to them?

Learn to listen newly: hear what you are missingLearn to speak newly: add what you assume and others do not

Continually expand your awareness to new levels.

You cannot succeed in this without getting to know people well.

Managing cross-cultural teams 35

• Management entails awesome responsibility and awesome opportunity. Both are magnified by a mixture of cultures.

• Many Asians are socialized to defer to authority figures, and foreigners, even those not in positions of authority. They may be unwilling to say “no” or disagree with you, to ask questions or ask for help, especially if you (even unknowingly) raise your voice or exhibit frustration or anger.

• They may hide from you the impact of how you are being.

• Many Americans, Japanese, and others regularly raise their voices, or interpret silence as a sign of agreement and support.

Managing cross-cultural teams 36

To be successful with people in other cultures, you need to be sensitive. You need to be willing to change. You need to give up the idea that your culture is better. All cultures have strengths and weaknesses. Learn the strengths and weaknesses of your culture and other cultures.

Seek out the strengths 37

I could benefit from a conversation about…?

What management challenge are you facing now? 38

• BALANCE Infographics: 7 Elements of Respect

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Technical Writers

• Global Content Creation – Making it Work

• A Motivating SLAP

• 2016 New Years Free Gifts

• What do good technical writers do? Why do we need them?

• You can find all of the above at: http://saiffsolutions.com/home/category/blog

• Great 11-minute video on motivation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

BONUS: Resources 39

Email: barrysaiff@saiffsolutions.comSkype: SaiffSolutionsContact: +1 415 350 2959 +63 917 872 0929Web: www.saiffsolutions.com

Visit our Saiff Solutions booth to pick up organization-transforming freebies and have a candid conversation with us on your content challenges.

#LavaCon #SaiffSolutions #techcomm

ALL QUESTIONS ARE WELCOME 40

BONUS: Creativity in the Face of StressA good manager creates and protects a healthy culture.

Culture lives in the details -- in every moment, every action and interaction.

Think about how you deal with stress. You are a role model for your team. Your stress level impacts them.

Successful managers rely on the 4 Cs:

• Curiosity, Caring, Competence, and Creativity

41